Indians prefer mobile plan with unlimited video viewing

New Delhi | Demand for mobile plans with unlimited video and TV streaming facility is very high in India, shows a study conducted by telecom gearmaker Ericsson across 24 countries.

“A mobile subscription plan that allows affordable streaming of TV and video content on a mobile device with reasonable video quality and without having to ration data is of great interest to 40 per cent of consumers globally,” Ericsson ConsumerLab TV and Media Report released today said.

Millennials are the most interested group at 46 per cent as these consumers typically use multiple on-demand services across several devices, it added.

“A similar trend can be observed in individual markets where consumers in India (72 per cent) along with some of the other countries show the highest interest levels for such capabilities,” the study said.

The Ericsson study found that video watching has increased on mobile devices globally.

Average viewing time on mobile devices has grown by more than 200 hours a year since 2012, driving up overall TV and video viewing by an additional 1.5 hours a week, it said.

The surge in mobile viewing comes against a decline in fixed screen viewing of 2.5 hours a week. “However, the appetite for TV and video is not waning,” the study said.

Ericsson said interviews of around 30,000 individuals were conducted with consumers aged 16-69 years across 24 markets, including Australia, China, Germany, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, the UK and the US.

All respondents have a broadband Internet connection at home and watch TV and video at least once a week and almost all use the Internet on a daily basis, the report said.